MOSCOW.

1x

Surprizing Talents of Imitation among the Russians-Remarkable
Fraud practised by a Native Artist
a Native Artist Booksellers-State of
Literature-Libraries of the Nobles-Equipages-Costume of
the Bourgeoisie Amusements of the People Chapel of the
Tverschaia-Miracles wrought there-Nature of the Imposture-
Artifice of a Merchant-Assasination of an Archbishop-Motive
for the Worship of Pictures-Resemblance between Neapolitans
and Russians-Wives of the Nobies-Conduct of their Husbands-
Children of Orloff-Princess Menchicoff - Retributive Spirit
exercised by the Emperor at the Funeral of his Mother.

IN
Russia for a talent of imitation. It is the acme of Russian
intellect; the principle of all their operations. They have
nothing of their own; but it is not their fault if they have not

whatever country we seek original genius, we must go to

CHAP. V.

Talents of

Imitation.

CHAP. V.

every thing which others invent. Their surprizing powers of imitation exceed all that has been hitherto known. The meanest Russian slave has been found adequate to the accomplishment of the most intricate and most delicate works of mechanism; to copy, with his single hand, what has demanded the joint labours of the best workmen in France or England. Though untutored, they are the best actors in the world. A Russian gentleman, who had never seen a theatre, assisted during the representation of a play, in one of the remote eastern provinces; and was accidentally seen by persons capable of estimating the merit of his performance, which they pronounced superior to that of any of our European actors. I am disposed to credit this account, because, in examples of their imitative genius, I have witnessed something similar. If they were instructed in the art of painting, they would become the finest portrait painters in the world. In proof of this I saw one example: it was a miniature portrait of the Emperor, executed by a poor slave, who had only once seen him, during the visit he made to Moscow. In all that concerned resemblance and minuteness of representation, it was the most astonishing work which perhaps ever appeared. The effect produced was like that of beholding the original through a diminishing lens, The Birmingham trinket manufactory, in which imitations of jewellery and precious metals are wrought with so much cheapness, is surpassed in Moscow; because the workmanship is equally good, and the things themselves are cheaper. But the great source of wonder is in the manner of their execution. At Birmingham they are the workmanship of many persons; in

Moscow

Moscow of one only; yet the difference between divided and undivided labour in this branch of trade occasions none in the price of the articles. I saw, in Moscow, imitations of the Maltese and Venetian gold chains, which would deceive any person, unless he were himself a goldsmith. This is not the case with their cutlery, in which a multiplication of labour is so requisite. They fail therefore in hard ware; not because they are incapable of imitating the works they import, but because they cannot afford to sell them for the same price. Where a patent, as in the instance of Bramah's locks, has kept up the price of an article in England beyond the level it would Otherwise find, the Russians have imitated such works with the greatest perfection, and sold the copy at a lower rate than the original, though equally valuable. This extraordinary talent for imitation has been shewn also in the fine arts. A picture by Dietrici, in the style of Polemberg, was borrowed by one of the Russian nobility from his friend. The nobleman who owned the picture had impressed his seal upon the back of it, and had inscribed verses and mottoes of his own comPosition. With so many marks, he thought his picture safe any where. But a copy so perfect was finished, both as to the painting and all the circumstances of colour in the canvas, the seal, and the inscriptions, that when put into the frame of the original, and returned to its owner, the fraud was not discovered. This circumstance was afterwards made known by the confession of the artist employed; and there are now residing in Petersburg and Moscow foreign artists1 of the highest

(1) Guarenghi of Petersburg, and Camporesi of Moscow, Italian architects employed by the Crown.

CHAP. V.

Remarkable
Fraud.

CHAP. V.

State of Literature.

highest respectability and talents who attest its truth. One
of them, Signor Camporesi, assured me, that walking in the
suburbs of Moscow, he entered a miserable hut belonging
to a cobler; where, at the further end, in a place contrived
to hold pans and kettles, and to dress victuals, he observed
a ragged peasant at work. It was a painter in enamel,
copying very beautiful pictures which were placed before
him. The same person, he added, might have been found
the next day drunk in a cellar, or howling beneath the cudgel
of his task-master. Under the
Under the present form of government
in Russia, it is not very probable the fine arts will ever
flourish. A Russian is either a slave, or has received his
freedom. In the former instance, he works only when
instigated by the rod of his master, and is cudgelled as often
as his owner thinks proper. While employed in works of
sculpture or painting, he is frequently called off, to mend
a chair or a table, to drive nails into a wainscot, or daub the
walls of the house. When evening comes, as certainly comes
a cudgel across his shoulders: And this is not the way to make
artists. In the latter instance, if he has received his freedom,
the action of the cudgel having ceased, all stimulus to labour
ends. He has then no other instigation to work, except the
desire of being able to buy brandy, and to get drunk; which
he does whenever he can procure the means, and there is soon
a period put to any exertion of his talents. Neither is this
a way to make artists.

The booksellers' shops in Moscow are better furnished than in Petersburg; but they are very rarely placed upon a ground floor. The convenience of walking into a shop from the

street,

street, without climbing a flight of stairs, is almost peculiar to England; though there are some exceptions, as in the Palais Royal at Paris, and in a few houses at Vienna. A catalogue of Russian authors in some of the shops fills an octavo volume of two hundred pages. French, Italian, German, and English books, would be as numerous here as in any other city, were it not for the ravages of the public censors, who prohibit the sale of books from their own ignorant misconception of their contents. Sometimes a single volume, nay a single page, of an author is prohibited, and the rest of the work, thus mangled, permitted to be sold. There is hardly a single modern work which has not been subject to their correction. The number of prohibited books is such, that the trade is ruined. Contraband publications are often smuggled; but the danger is so great, that all the respectable booksellers leave the trade to persons, either more daring, or who, from exercising other occupations, are less liable to suspicion.

CHAP. V.

Yet there are circumstances arising from the state of Libraries. Public affairs in the two cities, which gives a superiority to the booksellers of Moscow. In and near the city reside a vast number of Russian nobility. A foreigner might live many years there, without even hearing the names of some of them; whereas at Petersburg a few only are found, who all belong the court, and are therefore all known. The nobles of Moscow have many of them formerly figured in the presence their sovereign, and have been ordered to reside in that

to

· of

city; or they have passed their youth in foreign travel, and have withdrawn to their seats in its environs. Many of these have magnificent libraries; and, as the amusement of collecting,

rather